A new ecosystem for electric cars - Shai Agassi

[@jerkbeast81]

He technically did answer this question by saying solar, and wind only. I do realize that those are variable power sources, but they are also not limited in the same way as needing to locate/mine them. But he DID answer the question (even if you don't like the answer)

[@MikiedarkensvtSmith]

I was left in just pure amazement after hearing this. I found a lot of it to be very true, sadly I do still see oil being used. The plastic that is used to make parts for the cars and for the batteries as well for the changing stations. However just being able to take out the oil in gas will make such a large impact on economy and the environment.

[@Nebucatnetzer]

I don't know exactly what went wrong. But AFAIK the cars sold a lot less than they expected. In addition the planning for the battery changing stations were IMO quite a mess, which led to delays. And beside that the most famous quote from Agassi I know is "Don't worry about the money, if this tree doesn't give money anymore I just go to the next one and shake it." Tells a lot about his way to run a buisness if you as me.

[@JeanWilkinsonMissbonegirl4u]

This is one of the best ideas I've seen! Good luck getting this off the ground here in America! There are too many people living in the past and liking it's ignorance, be it guns, global warming, or anything against Big Oil. Thank you for the great talk Sir.

[@iamcoolstephen1234]

This may or may not be the case for everyone. It's important to realize that there are a lot of people that do not do what you do. Many people live in cities or suburbs, commute to work 30-60 minutes away, drive for local leisure activities, fly to their vacation spot, and don't really have much of a need for long-distance driving. I live in LA and work locally. My commute time in past jobs has been 10-60 minutes. I shop locally. My friends live locally. If I travel far, I usually fly.

[@petersv]

Look where we are today

[@spokehedz]

You wouldn't have to upgrade the grid at all. You run out of charge, you switch packs. That is what his company Better Place is all about. That, and if you make power locally you wouldn't need to ship it all over the place. Think about it now: You don't make the oil locally, you get it imported from somewhere else.

[@ralph90009]

Not necessarily. Using current electrical generation methods, yes. Graphene is making solar more efficient by orders of magnitude, wind is being deployed in increasing amounts, wave power is picking up, and there's always nuclear or hydroelectric plants.

[@SeanRosairo]

Okay, as I said previously, there is my video of my prototype car on my Channel (KZbin won't allow links in the comment section) It's seems like a good idea especially since Shai Agassi was talking about the same thing, It's kind of funny how I did this as a school project last year (But I'm sure Shai has been working on this longer than I did :p )

[@89allstar89]

Windmill and Solar Farms. He touches on the subjects when talking about the projects in Israel and Denmark. These are the clean energy sources of electricity that our world needs to adopt if we want to prevent destroying the planet. Abolish our oil dependency.

[@jmac217x]

Ending oil usage is great, but I feel like I have designs that would remove the need for swap stations all together, for they would just be a mess. Also by 2016 super capacitors will probably be ready, and widely available, for V3 iterations, and would exponentially increase drive times. Shortly after they're implemented it will be possible to never charge your electric car, it will fully charge every time you drive. The only problem with EVs in this country is Big Oil.

[@jtaylor4321]

Some days the sun doesn't shine (not firm). The heat stored by the molten salt is somewhat dispatchable, but nothing like a hydroelectric dam or coal fire plant. Our power demands vary to a large degree (peak is more than twice of min each day). A power source is only valuable if it can be turned on to deal with the peaks. It's why British Columbia is a net importer of power but turns a profit on the exchange (hydro electric turned on to deal with the load of California)

[@beegum1]

I am not saying that EVs and hybrid cars are bad ideas. Certainly hybrid locomotives and electric trains are working quite well. These two technologies have lots of human experience. And, from an engineering standpoint... there's all kinds of little minor pieces that can get corrected if we have a sample size over time before implementation... and a repair can often make no economic, and possibly no environmental sense.

[@DannyKhoo89]

This guy, his presentation, perfect!

[@Wanderlust1972]

This guy is brilliant, if only everybody thought like him.

[@jtaylor4321]

True, eVs are more carbon efficient that traditional combustion engines, but not as much as you may think. The best case scenario is only about twice as CO2 efficient. So, in going to an all EV model, we would only cut emissions by 15% since transportation only makes up 30% of total GHG emissions. Building a clean grid has to be the first step to carbon neutrality. Everything else is a distraction.

[@beegum1]

There may be some minor market fixing and speculation on it. But, I assume the engineers put a price point at which new investment in infrastructure makes sense. At that point they get a bunch of money put aside to increase production, and then the price continues to climb for a while and then gradually comes back down as thing get down the production pipeline. The high prices to increase profits, I'm not denying that.

[@thebluesclues2012]

Which bit?

[@murilosilva1638]

dude, Tesla is the most revolutionary electric car company in the world. they have the best battery tecnology, the best engine performance, with "normal cars" stylish design AND it was created in the US. Search for "Tesla Model S Mega Factories" and watch the documentary (not boring at all)

[@spokehedz]

You change packs at a charging station. The charging station--much like a gas station--would charge the packs for you, you would just get it swapped out. The charging station would be equipped with high-cap lines that can deliver the hundreds of amps and volts that you would need to charge the batteries. LOOK UP BETTER PLACE BATTERY SWAP to see how exchanging packs would work. You, as the consumer, wouldn't charge your own packs. Just like you don't refine your own oil in your garage.

[@sandshadeddutchman]

they can store the heat (i believe they said in molten salt,whatever that is) and run a plant 24/7. what do you mean by not dispatchable?

[@DavidKirwanirl]

Shaky start, but overall fantastic!

[@WhoooLovesOrangeSoda]

he mentioned something about molecules being a fuel rather than electrons... do they know something we dont?

[@DanFrederiksen]

TED, could you label this with the year it was actually filmed? since this is not new and Shai would likely not give this speech today as he has probably realized that battery swap doesn't work. The electric car however does. Fast charge is the key, not battery swap

[@jmac217x]

The problem I see with solar cells is that they're just too archaic. Not much more than a group of photoelectric diodes. Solar cells would need innovation before it's possible to fully depend on them. No one seems to be thinking about where energy is being lost in a vehicle. Energy is mostly lost in the tires as friction. They're 4 perfectly good rotors, hook them up in series as an alternator with a super capacitor with solar energy as an initial charge and you have an endless supply of power.

[@clearheadedness]

update from 2013: he is no longer the CEO of Better Place and the company is cutting down jobs and budget. basically he tried to promote a new kinds of tax by using charging stations only, you cant charge the battery from a home socket!

[@DanFrederiksen]

I think he said today 2010 but yes this is old and should be labelled as such

[@floundericiousWA]

this is covered on wikipedia under "Better_Place" Check them out....it's been a challenging market, to say the least

[@TheDeadmelo]

People in the US are worried more about style than efficiency in cars

[@sandshadeddutchman]

what about a 80/20 split between solar and coal? think that would work?

[@sophie3howl]

There's no single solution for the challenge we face right now. Never will! You see, every technologies or policies or whatever that people are selling to us like what Agassi did here will always have their own strengths and flaws. EV are not entirely that good. Biofuels, hydrogen-fuelled cars are not entirely rubbish... I just can't understand why people keep doing this thing: selling their own technology by making others' look bad. It's a new age now. We need to cooperate with each other!

[@cemyildirim8647]

Just Reminding you of this comment :]

[@togbakollie225]

I wish the majority of the people would have the same mindset to think of the future for atleast a minute each day.

[@jtaylor4321]

Contrary to what you might believe, I'm keenly interested in scalable and feasible ways of reducing green house gas emissions. Agassi is selling is a distraction to the innumerate.

[@MrEjemploanonimo]

Oh I see. It is true that renewables are getting bumped, but it looks like there is still a long road till that happens.

[@beegum1]

Oh, I am talking about long term. There's more non-renewable as the price point goes up. We won't be running out of plastics for hospitals or anything like that for a very very long time. As far as coal in the US goes, or coal in general... it makes a lot more sense to develop it and make it cleaner helps everyone in the whole world, especially the poor, as the poor use dirtier energy by necessity. Not doing so seems to assure a worse outcome.

[@bricejohnson4272]

The best way to get electric cars is by buying a kit and installing it yourself in a junky car. There are kits between 3,000 to 12,000 dollars and even if you have an expert install the kits for you...It still be cheaper than buying a 31,000 dollar car with government grants. (Although, I think you can still get government grants with the kit as well. As long as they are approved by the government.)

[@beegum1]

I can't even find numbers on the co2 outlay of a wind turbine or solar cell. After they did the information gathering on electrical cars, they found it takes 10 years or so for the car to become co2 neutral. My question is, can it have batteries that go 120 miles and be carbon neutral? I suspect that the answer is 'not for while'.

[@bonmec101]

Tesla is already doing great. Their cars do 350 miles on a single charge. They have set up supercharger stations on the freeways which charge your car at a rate of 300 miles/hour produced by solar energy and it is life time free for owners. What we need now is to bring down that charging rate to few min. Not tough to do. And set up a solar panel at your home to charge your car over night.Now you have ZERO emission car for yourself. Be proud.

[@jtaylor4321]

Agassi has yet to answer the most important question of an all EV model: where does the energy come from? Electric charging requires a grid of firm and dispatchable power sources (solar and wind are neither). The EV model (at present) is only exchanging one fossil fuel source (oil) for another (coal/gas turbine, US Grid is 89% hydrocarbon).

[@LBGLEOSPHERES]

even US Army/Navy recognize the importance to get rid of oil dependency. Coal: well, for that you need a big company that digs that out, process it etc. etc. & charge you. Furthermore it doesn't contribute to CO2 reduction & so doesn't save your taxes to get diverted to climate change mitigation/adaptation efforts which are underway almost everywhere in industrialized countries. Even if CO2 is not the main cause for climate change it surely is a non negligible contributor. etc etc.

[@spokehedz]

Then don't use batteries. Compress air, and put it in big bladders that you keep anchored to the ocean floor. When you need it, release it and there is your energy storage/regulation mechanism. And yeah, it works. Look up "seamus garvey compressed air" and you will see that you can store way more energy in air bags than in banks of batteries. But I am finished with this conversation. You won't ever see past your own conclusion, and will instead willingly shell out $15 for a gallon of fuel.

[@spokehedz]

He said Wind and Solar. You must have missed it. Go back and watch it again.

[@DonRade]

He should introduce this to Canada!

[@mormongirlnv]

What video did you watch?

[@jtaylor4321]

Again, you don't seem to get it. A non-firm, non-dispatchable power source can't be used to charge the batteries (wherever or not they are in your car). The number of batteries you would need would be too great: you would need many times more batteries than cars to charge them with.

[@DieRedo]

Put the Apple logo on a project like this and everyone will love it because power of marketing.

[@Alumx]

great speech!

[@jtaylor4321]

As below, saying wind and solar is not an answer (not firm, not dispatchable). A whole society using electric vehicles creates a power demand profile that does not fit that produced by solar and wind sources. Until there is a plan for a clean power grid, eVehicles are just moving the problem to the grid.

[@mormongirlnv]

In the USA not the best thing in the world this is why once the non renewable materials get depleted and trust me it is not a infinite resource the countries that did not think ahead will end up paying more in the long run.

[@VliengWieng]

Unfortunately that's true for a lot of things.. but this one.. this one I'm optimistic about :) Let's check back in 20 years or so and see what happens

[@SAsgarters]

3:01 - 3:05 Horse shit. If you don't plug in the heater, it just makes it a little bit harder on the car when you do start it. Incidentally, the cold affects the battery as well, which is bad news for electric cars as well.

[@reveaglestar]

Yes I listened. He and you are wrong on how far people travel. OK during the week, commuting, shopping, sure not more then 100 miles, but on weekends Myself and a lot of people I know go a lot farther. I go camping/hunting/fishing about once a month or so during the warm months. I go a lot farther then 100 miles on those weekends, and when I take my two weeks vacation, I go across the country. It is what people are used to doing, and the downfall of electric cars is lack of range.

[@MrEjemploanonimo]

But, I do have one question. The electricity that fuels the cars would still come mostly from fossil fuels, right?

[@jtaylor4321]

Not firm, Not dispatchable. (It's not always on, and you can't turn it on and off.) Therefore, not an answer to eV power demands.

[@tsjoencinema]

Manufacturing an electric car is not done without a CO2 cost.

[@EmmittBrownBTTF1]

It is very telling that youtube spam detection has flagged your comment.

[@TheaDragonSpirit]

You have more than one battery, and you change the batteries, same as with fuel when you run low you buy some more. It's not that complicated.

[@sandshadeddutchman]

the rotors have to have a power source to turn them. theres no such thing as an endless power supply.even gliders run out of energy at some point. solar towers seem much more efficient than solar cells.

[@Meximagician]

You park them next to your horse wagons and penny-farthing? Actually, you can convert them, but that would require folks caring enough for their cars to do that.

[@GOOSEMAN1980]

What would happen to all the old cars if we make millions of new cars

[@jmac217x]

You are the inhibition of innovation. People like you only tell people what they can't do, while knowing nothing for their self - just lowly consumers. We're here to prove those people wrong and show the world what's possible. Why don't you sit back for a moment and think about the future, It's a rich and vibrant technological ecosystem; don't get left behind.

[@LBGLEOSPHERES]

well, what about "energy safety" ?

[@eurohim]

You had to get government to put a massive tax on your competition to make your product sell? That sounds fishy. If it is so good, why would you need to do that?

[@thormayer]

Actually, Agassi got fired from his own company last year. this talk is from 2009. long way...

[@murilosilva1638]

Thats gonna change when gas gets really expensive.

[@murilosilva1638]

never will end up seeing the light of the day? The best 2012 american produced car is a electric car made by Tesla. All over the world electric cars are recieving incentives to be mass produced. Electric cars are the future!

[@softwarefreaks]

nice video!!

[@TheDeadmelo]

I'm sure if the made the electric cars here more stylish, more ppl will buy them

[@DavidKirwanirl]

Intro - 1:12... if you can convert an entire country to electric cars.. we can somehow solve the source of that electricity to power those cars. Makes sense. WTF!

[@thebluesclues2012]

Of course we have to go to an electric car future, but battery swapping is not the answer if you want to move away from an energy cartel. Big oil will move into the control of energy just like they do now. I have an EV and I've done over 27,000 miles and not a drop of petrol. My electricity comes from solar and wind and not coal nor oil, nor nuclear.

[@SensibleMinded]

I don't understand the negativity in this comments section. why are so many people against getting away from oil and fossil fuels? or against even talking about it? I'm aware it won't happen tomorrow, but if we admit defeat because it can't be done in 6 months then we are looking at it wrong. we must start today working towards a better tomorrow. The computer you are using did not start out as it is today but rather an expensive clunky machine which was refined over years. this can be too.

[@beegum1]

Energy safety? Coal has got to be the best thing the US has for energy safety. Perhaps, I don't understand 'energy safety' as you mean it. Or perhaps, you're thinking of 'energy safety' as a reason for the government to spend money in 'energy defense' by investing in expensive energy production infrastructure that gets a free pass for co2 neutrality, despite the obvious expense of manufacture. How long does it take for a windmill to become co2 neutral?

[@jtaylor4321]

... And where (when) do you charge the packs? Be serious.

[@dzonikg28]

every battery is 100% recuclibe ..and in my coyntry 80% of electirucity comes from hidro plants which dont emite anything

[@mormongirlnv]

Now!! I get only 10 miles per gallon in my old clunker.

[@murilosilva1638]

Biofuels can't gas up all cars in the future cause we need to use the land to produce food. Hydrogen consumes more electric power than to use this power directly in a electric engine. Hydrogen are also expensive, its required infrastructure is also expensive, so it is not the best alternative. I believe electric cars are by far our best option.

[@LBGLEOSPHERES]

Lol ..."when you need a fish you get a woman ...when you need a woman you get a fish..." anyways...good lecture. Thx for sharing.

[@husnshujaat2985]

We are now in 2016, this did not accomplished, :( I hope some progress was made

[@txxxx0]

+Husn Shujaat www.fastcompany.com/3028159/a-broken-place-better-place I found an article after this one that said there may be potential for this in China. Otherwise... doesn't seem like there was much progress):

[@husnshujaat2985]

I'm glad there is still little hope

[@jayfulf]

You can't simply "swap" all these batteries in "two minutes"

[@alexandarmakxmov]

IF U END OIL you be in a war!

[@iMacBoy91]

Morality was supposed to be the number one priority when the industrial revolution took place. But unfortunately, it was the complete opposite.

[@LBGLEOSPHERES]

sorry, i don't know that...but anyway you research that and furthermore: we got a lot of folks out there working hard on that stuff... - google: " ARPA-E" (my recom..)

[@Sharpshooterjoe]

not to be pessimistic but how much do batteries cost to make, how much energy and resources, what about disposing all of those batteries? As of right now batteries are only about 9% efficient, and they get worse the older the battery gets. Not to mention where does the electricity to charge the battery come from in the first place? A coal factory? Until we make a scientific leap in technology, it is a waste of time and money to force a bad product to the general population.

[@Mudd0000]

of course he doesn't go into detail about how a country would produce enough electricity to allow everyone to drive an electric car. I suspect it will simply result in burning fossil fuels to produce electricity instead of being used directly.

[@shmooveyea]

America like the continent? Or the USA? I get confused when people use center-of-the-worldism words

[@FlameHaze285]

Yeah you're right I meant to add in "Why do you people always make everything racial and hateful towards other country's and their people" But yes you're right I screwed up.

[@petersv]

The OG Adam Neumann, expect he actually had the right vision and was bankrupted instead of being a billionaire.

[@sandshadeddutchman]

theres allways solar towers.

[@Yaimah00]

dislikes from BP, Shell.....

[@reveaglestar]

This is NOT going to work until they can build a car that can travel 400 to 500 miles on a charge, be able to recharge it in 15 minutes or less, and cost the same as a gas powered car. Since this is not possible, we need to look elsewhere for our future cars.

[@GarryGolden]

There is no money is electrons; molecule fuels are the most likely mode of bringing energy to EVs. Automakers want fuel cell b/c of low cost to mass. Fueling companies want to stay in the game. Utilities cannot make money off of electrons. BetterPlace is closing down NA/Australian operations. Why was this video even posted? Really, no biz model in electrons. Hydrogen is not 'silly', it is where the auto industry is doubling down. And yes, it will take decades for transition to occur.

[@BunToomo]

I know that this sounds stupid.... But i've think about this solution around 1 year ago. Isn't it obvious? The limitation of battery tech is so obvious that swapping battery is the obvious solution to this problem. I don't think that this guy is very special if his solution is a solution I ( a student in a university in taiwan) can figure out. Either he's not so special or I'm a genius. Which is more likely?

[@Brainbuster]

Why does this comment have 5 thumbs up? What a bunch of naysayers.

[@EthanNin0]

Wow, really? What happened?

[@monkymastr]

and the american political body plugged their ears and shouted "Big Oil says we cant hear you!"

[@beegum1]

So you're making a business model that's going to get crushed by coal.

[@jayfulf]

GDP

[@aryachaty]

Why is the talk so incoherent? Why can't he stay on a single idea and see it through?

[@Tamizushi]

Scandinavians always do better than everyone else in the world. Your argument is invalid.

[@Walzounet]

It's not a racial thing to be from USA ...

[@jerrylittlemars]

lol collectivism at it's finest